Wake up call! (Why counting really DOES matter)

I've been counting calories for more than a year and have lost both weight and body fat as a result. I didn't have a lot of weight to lose, but it wasn't coming off on its own despite my moderately high activity level and attempts at watching what I was eating.

Having recently gone on a month vacation where I did not count calories and having returned home with just a few pounds of vacation weight to lose, I got busy and mentally tracked what I was eating without logging it into the computer. Partly because I've been busy and  the measuring, counting and logging takes discipline and time. Yet after a month of being home, I've realized that the vacation weight isn't coming off as fast as I think it should and I'm a bit irked.

So today I decided to restart counting by measuring and logging my intake. It's 2.30pm and I've already consumed just under 1000 calories of very good, healthy food. But 1000 calories none the less. What's more, my "mental" calculations would have been much less.

WAKE UP CALL. This is why the vacation weight isn't coming off and this is why keeping tabs on our REAL intake is so important.

Like perhaps some of you, I have varied between being obsessive about counting to being a bit annoyed at the work involved. But this has shown me how quickly an extra piece of turkey, or teaspoon of peanut butter can add up. And to be honest, I feel very lucky that I've figured it out so quickly. Go figure!

I just have to chime in and say thanks for writing, everyone! Today's my first day back at counting in a couple of weeks. I haven't been losing as fast as I'd like and my DH keeps telling me that I should "just" count. It really is a pain to me, and I really do like to eat "carefully" without counting, but clearly counting is the only way to lose weight in my life!

Seriously, I was eating "carefully" every other day and only drinking coffee (black) sugar-free Kool-Aid, and water on the other days. And still barely losing. NOT COOL. Counting is better. Eating very little isn't fun, but NOT eating is miserable.

We can all do it! Let's count those calories and lose that ugly-unhealthy-extra weight! :)

Welcome back WTCBABY.

Counting can be a hassle, but I've realized over these last few days that I've been back at it two important things: the first is that I snack more that I would like to admit. a spoon of ice cream while dishing out desert for my kids, or an extra slice of cheese while making dinner. And some of these "bites" can really add up. The other thing is that my mental measurments were conveniently smaller than reality. I am now more convinced than ever that this is the only way to seriously enjoy food while working toward getting healthier and losing weight.